The civil war reduced slave owners' economic power but increased their political influence

Luna Bellani, Anselm Hager and Stephan Maurer

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: Did Southern elites' economic losses from abolition translate into diminished political influence? Using novel census-linked data on state lawmakers across four slave owning and two Northern states (1850-1880), we document a striking paradox: despite the massive wealth shock of emancipation, the political influence of former slave owners increased during Reconstruction and its aftermath. We show that former slave owners won office at similar rates as in the antebellum period and secured more committee assignments. Comparable patterns are not visible among wealthy legislators in Northern comparison states. This suggests that Southern elites responded to economic loss by tightening their grip on formal political institutions. Our findings point to formal political institutions as one channel through which defeated economic elites preserved influence during Reconstruction and its aftermath.

Keywords: wealth inequality; elites and development; US South; slavery; political power; reconstruction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-05-14
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